


Fighting For

by rsadelle



Category: Bandom, The Academy Is...
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-26
Updated: 2009-08-26
Packaged: 2017-10-25 21:52:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/275212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rsadelle/pseuds/rsadelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>William was on the run from the Association when Gabe pulled him out of the battle and into Cobra Camp.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fighting For

**Author's Note:**

> I fell in love with this story, and I hope you enjoy it too. Thanks are due to M, who asked at least one good question (and probably more I've forgotten about); [](http://schuyler.livejournal.com/profile)[**schuyler**](http://schuyler.livejournal.com/) , who provided a joke and a name; [](http://norwich36.livejournal.com/profile)[**norwich36**](http://norwich36.livejournal.com/) , who listened to me babble my way to a solution even though it's not her fandom; and the hand of fate that led me to draw "leaves" and not something else as my prompt for a "describing sounds" writing exercise.

There was a _fwoosh_ as the pile of leaves to William's left caught and started to burn.

They weren't far behind him now.

He kept running. His feet crunched through the leaves on the ground as he dodged the fires catching from the flamethrowers and their spurts of gasoline.

Fall was the worst time to be on the run.

The next burst of flame caught on a tree, dry leaves still clinging to its branches, directly ahead. William barely caught himself in time to dodge the edges of the resulting fire.

Shit, shit, shit. It was probably too much to hope that it had been chance. They were close, and getting closer.

He was so focused on his heartbeat in his ears and the flames coming toward him that he didn't notice the rustling to his right until a large animal and its rider burst through the brush and shuddered to a stop in front of him.

The rider thrust an arm down to him. "Get on."

A horse. It was a horse.

William hesitated only a second before grabbing the rider's arm and letting himself be hauled up behind him. It was a risk, but his other options didn't look good either.

On a horse, they moved faster, and the rider seemed to know the woods well enough to make up for the loss of agility.

The crackle of the flames behind them tapered off until the only sounds were the ones they were making.

The rider slowed the horse to a walk. "That's my girl," he crooned. He bent almost double over the horse's neck as he ran his hands over its - her - coat. "That's my good girl." He pressed a smacking kiss to her neck and sat up again. "We'll be there in twenty minutes," he twisted to tell William.

William resisted the urge to ask where "there" was and instead listened to his heart slow to its usual unobtrusive rhythm. He listened hard, but if they had pursuers, they were a hell of a lot more stealthy than before.

"There" turned out to be a small settlement William didn't even notice until they were practically on top of it.

The young man who met them at its edge looked past the rider to William. "Another one? Vicky-T's going to kill you."

The rider slid to the ground. "Vicky-T loves me." He held up a hand for William to use to steady himself getting down and handed the reins to the other man. "This way."

William followed him across the center of the camp, ignoring the looks coming his way.

The rider pushed through a flap into one of the tents. "Goddamn fucking Association would burn down the whole forest to get to one fugitive."

There was a woman in the tent, strong face, dark hair, studying an array of papers spread out in front of her. "Fucking Association," she agreed. Then she looked up. "God damn it, Gabe."

The rider - Gabe - managed to look sheepish. "I found him in the forest. Can I keep him?"

William was not a pet. "What if I don't want to be kept?"

Both Gabe and the woman looked at him, both of them looking surprised. Then Gabe patted his shoulder. "See? He'll fit right in."

The woman was starting to smile, if reluctantly. "Damn it, Gabe."

Gabe slid his hand across William's back until his arm was around William's shoulders. "That means you're staying."

The woman rolled her eyes. "Do you have a name? Or something we can call you?"

William knew of three other Williams out of favor with the Association, and at least two more likely to be soon, so he gave her his real name, but only his first.

"At least it's not Alex." That didn't mean anything to William, but she kept talking. "I'm Victoria. This is Gabe." She stepped past him and pushed open the flap of the tent. "Ryland, Suarez," she called.

A few moments later, a pair of men came through the door. Victoria introduced the sharp-faced one as Ryland and the other as Suarez.

"We're going to have to confiscate your weapons."

"She decides you're trustworthy," Gabe said, somehow appearing to lean against the canvas wall of the tent, "you'll get them back."

Ryland took William's pack. William handed his weapons over one by one, and then stood still for Suarez to pat him down.

"You'll get back anything safe later," Victoria told him. She dismissed Ryland and Suarez and looked William up and down.

"The Association was after him," Gabe said, still more or less leaning on the canvas. "Full squad, throwers and all."

"The Association is after a lot of people." Victoria threw a look at Gabe. "Not all of them are friendlies." She turned her sharp gaze back to William. "Why were they after you?"

William hesitated. He didn't know these people, and he didn't know if he was going to show up on Association broadcasts.

Gabe pushed himself off from the canvas with the same magic that let him lean against it in the first place and joined Victoria in standing in front of William.

"Why were they after you?" he asked.

"I took out a comm station." If he closed his eyes, he would still be able to see it, the charges going off and taking down the tower, the flames shooting up toward the sky. He kept them open. "The guards weren't as far away as I thought, and they saw me." If he closed his eyes, he would still be able to see his team scattering in all directions, and the guards following only him.

Victoria and Gabe were both looking at him suspiciously, like they knew he was leaving things out. They exchanged a look William didn't know them well enough to interpret.

"Can you cook?" Victoria asked.

William looked at Gabe, but there was no help there. He was just as interested in his answer as Victoria, if a little less sharp about it.

"Boil water," he finally answered. "Heat up field rations."

"Know anything about horses?"

William shook his head. "Never seen one in person before today."

"Sew?"

"No."

The line of Victoria's mouth had curved down with each answer.

"What can you do?" Gabe asked. He hadn't moved, but there was something in the way he was watching William that made him sure that Gabe was taking in everything he said.

"Sing," he said, and there was a memory of Sisky telling him, "Always give the useless answers first," that he tapped down before he could remember any more about the team he might never see again.

Gabe smirked; Victoria folded her arms across her chest.

"Anything else?"

"Assemble a bomb. Hit a moving target nine times out of ten. Intercept Association comms with equipment that isn't fucked all to hell." He had other skills, too, but that was probably enough.

"Sounds like a revolutionary," Gabe said, and he and Victoria had another one of those silent conversations. This one ended with Victoria sighing and dropping her arms to her sides.

"Welcome to Cobra Camp," she said to William. "Everyone here outranks you. Anyone gives you shit about it, you tell one of us."

"That shit's not cool in Cobra Camp," Gabe put in, smiling at William now.

"Gabe outranks me," Victoria continued. "No one else does. I tell you to do something, you do it. No questions." She crossed her arms across her chest again. "This is a working camp, but we have families here too. You put them in danger, you answer to me."

"You don't want to have to answer to her." Gabe's smile was still open and friendly.

"You'll be on camp chore duty for the time being." Victoria tapped the fingers of one hand against the opposite arm. "You'll work with Nate to learn to take care of horses, and," she paused and frowned, "the cooking Alex," she finally decided, "to learn to cook." She stepped back and looked at something pinned to the wall. "We'll put you in with Ryland and Suarez for the time being."

Gabe snorted a laugh. "They're not going to be happy about that."

"They can deal." Victoria leaned out the tent flap. "Ryland!"

He couldn't have been far away, because he came into the tent moments later.

"William's staying with you and Suarez," Victoria told him. "Show him the tent, and then turn him over to Alex to help with dinner."

William looked back as he followed Ryland outside. Gabe was watching him with half a smile on his face, even as he cocked his head to listen to whatever Victoria was telling him.

***

William settled into a routine. Nate taught him to feed and groom the horses. The cooking Alex taught him how to cook. The gardening Alex taught him to tend the gardens that meant Cobra Camp didn't rely solely on rations. The singing Alex taught him which Alex was which. Ryland and Suarez, who was actually another Alex, taught him a collection of songs he didn't already know. Between them, they had a pair of bongos, a flute or pipe of some kind that William wasn't allowed to touch, and an acoustic guitar. William had never seen an acoustic. It was a joy to play.

He got used to conversations stopping abruptly as he approached, to Ryland or Suarez always being awake when he was, to looking up and finding Gabe or Victoria watching him, to never seeing the tech he knew they had to have somewhere, to not being left alone with the camp's children.

He was absorbed in his routine the day Ryland and Suarez came back and said, "This guy tried to shoot us," and someone else said, "You were trying to shoot at me," surprisingly chill for someone who'd maybe been in a firefight, and William knew that voice.

"Travie." The name was out of his mouth before he'd even finished turning around.

"Holy shit, William." Travis wasn't restrained by anything other than the aim of Ryland and Suarez's weapons, but he was smart enough to stay put and let William come to him. "Holy shit," he said again when he had his arms around William, and it was the first time anyone had touched William like this, friendly, since the goddamn fuckup of the comm station. William forced himself to pull away before he melted into it any more than he already had.

"What the hell is this place?" Travis asked, and William couldn't help grinning at him. They might not trust him yet, but.

"This is Cobra Camp," he answered. "This is it, Travie, the Resistance, the real thing, not the kid stuff we've been doing." William grabbed at Travis's arm. "They're organized, and they're making progress."

Travis and Suarez looked surprised, Ryland resigned, and Gabe, who'd come out from wherever he'd been to meet them, considering.

Travis shook his head. "Should've known you'd land on your feet. How long have you been here?"

William counted back. "Three weeks."

Travis's fond amusement folded into something uncomfortable and unhappy. "Then you haven't heard."

"Heard what?"

Travis didn't sugar-coat it for him. "Sisky's dead."

William couldn't help the wounded noise that came from his throat.

"I'm sorry." Travie pulled him close again, and this time William clung and let Travie hold him up.

"Perhaps," Gabe said, his voice cutting through the moment, "we should take this out of the town square." The look on his face was something William couldn't interpret.

They went to the command tent, of course, where Gabe had brought William that first day. William had been there once or twice since. He was confident enough - or defiant, or tired - to sit on the cushions this time, and pull Travie down with him. Travie slung an arm around him; William leaned against his chest. It was warm, and familiar, and William relaxed for the first time in three weeks.

Victoria stood in front of them, arms crossed over her chest. "Seriously, Gabe," she said. "You have to stop."

"Hey, Ryland and Suarez found this one." Gabe's hands were up to protest his innocence, but his smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Yes," Victoria said, "but he appears to belong to one of yours."

Gabe looked down at William and Travis for a long, silent moment, and then he crouched down in front of them. "What were you doing in the woods?" He had an intense look about him that William had only rarely seen.

William pressed back against Travie, trying to silently tell him it was okay to answer, and that he should tell the truth. It didn't work.

"Taking a walk."

"What were you doing in the woods?" The question came from Victoria this time.

"Travie," William said. He twisted to look up at Travis. "Please?" He watched Travis watch Gabe and Victoria until he gave in.

"There've been rumors."

Victoria's gaze sharpened. "What kind of rumors?"

"Safe places," Travis answered. "More of them in the forest than in the city." He tightened his arm enough around William that William curled his hand over Travis's to offer comfort. "Maja's pregnant again." Travis's voice had dropped so he was talking only to William, even though Gabe and Victoria were still listening. "Association's narrowing in on targets, and she and the girls need to be somewhere safe."

"If it means anything," William said to Gabe and Victoria, "I'll vouch for them."

Gabe stood and went to the camp map on the wall. "He'll stay tonight at least. We'll put him in with Ryland and Suarez. William, move your stuff in with Nate and get back to work."

William wanted to insist he be allowed to stay with Travis, but he knew it would never happen. Too many lives on the line for trust to come easily.

"Gabe," Victoria said softly.

"It's what you would have done anyway," Gabe said, sounding oddly defensive to William's ears. "Go on," he said to William.

"Travie-" William started.

"Travie," Gabe said, putting just a little too much emphasis on the name, "is going to stay and chat for a while."

William stiffened, but Travie squeezed him close, pressed his lips to William's cheek, and then let go. "I'll be fine."

Victoria rolled her eyes at him. "We're not going to hurt him. Aren't you supposed to be in the garden with Alex this afternoon?"

"Go," Travis said, so William went. He glanced back before he let the flap fall shut behind him. Gabe and Victoria were settling onto cushions across from Travis.

William moved his pack and bedroll from Ryland and Suarez's tent to Nate's. He rushed through it and into the garden without giving himself time to think about Sisky. If he thought about Sisky, he'd start thinking about the rest of his team and what might have happened to them.

He was successful in putting it off until after dinner. He was leaning against Travis again, on a log in front of the central fire, when Gabe crouched down in front of them. He had a silver flask with him.

"To fallen comrades." Gabe drank from the flask and held it out.

Travis took it first. "To fallen comrades." He drank and passed the flask to William.

"To fallen comrades." William could barely get the words out. The liquor burned all the way down.

Their fingers brushed as he handed the flask back to Gabe.

Gabe looked like he might be about to say something, then his look turned to something listening, and then almost rueful. "Fucking Wentz and his goddamn timing," he muttered, and William realized with a shock that he didn't just have tech, he had _embedded_ tech. When Gabe stood, his usual grin was in place. "Pete," he called.

A guy who was probably even shorter than Victoria disentangled himself from what seemed to be half the camp trying to hug him at once and came over to hug just Gabe.

"Saporta," he said. "Cobra Commander."

"What the hell, Pete?" Gabe asked. "Surprise inspection?"

"Something like that." Pete looked past Gabe and his eyes widened when he saw William. "Holy shit," he said. "Holy shit. I'm going to retina print you." William didn't have a chance to say anything before Pete pulled up one of his sleeves and held his wrist in front of William's face. It was only a short, uncomfortable second before Pete grinned and said, "William Beckett, holy shit." He turned back to Gabe. "One of my strike teams lost a guy. I found them a new one. One of his conditions was that I watch for some people." Pete grinned at Gabe. "William Beckett, and I'll bet you've got him on restricted camp duty."

"You know how Victoria is." Gabe's posture was loose and easy, but his eyes were sharp and focused on William.

"I know Victoria doesn't do anything you won't approve of." Pete's grin flashed in the firelight. "Except sleep with Alexes."

"Who was it?" William asked.

Pete blinked at him. "You'd have to ask her."

"Not that," William snapped. "Who asked you to look for me?"

"Oh. Jon Walker. He's safe. Well," he amended, "as safe as he can be with a strike team. He brought in Chislett and Butcher." William let himself feel the relief that news brought him. "We're still looking for Carden and Siska."

"Siska's dead," Travis said, saving William from having to do it. He wondered if saying it got easier with repetition; hearing it didn't.

"Damn," Pete muttered. "Any ideas about where we might find Carden? I'd like to get your whole team with us."

"Maybe," William said, turning it over in his mind. "I make contact with him, and Travis has people who need to be safe."

"Done," Pete said without even the slightest bit of hesitation.

"You're a terrible negotiator," Gabe laughed. "Too softhearted."

"Gabriel Saporta," Pete shot back, "you take in twice as many strays as I do. Besides, this is William Beckett and now he's ours." He leaned down to hug William and then Travis. "Welcome to the Resistance. Now Gabe and I have important leader business to discuss."

Gabe squeezed William's shoulder as he followed Pete away from the fire.

***

Travis took off with a team in the morning. Gabe sent William back to his usual chores with a promise to plan the mission to look for Carden after lunch.

"Pete's here," Gabe explained, rubbing his forehead. He looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep. "There's too much to do. This afternoon, I promise."

"Fine." William turned and headed toward the horses. He'd only taken a few steps when he turned around again. "Gabe," he called.

Gabe turned, too, to look at him. "Yeah?"

"Take a fucking nap. You look like shit, and I'm not going on a mission you planned after pulling some kind of mysterious leader business all-nighter."

Gabe flipped him off, but he also laughed, and William spent the morning with the horses. They'd always treated him like part of the camp.

***

After lunch, William followed Gabe, Pete, and Victoria back to the command tent. The table William had only ever seen covered with papers had been cleared to reveal itself as an impressive piece of tech. A holo map hovered in the air above it.

"Okay," Victoria said. "Where are you going?"

William reached his hand into the map. It responded - either left unlocked or already keyed to him - and he moved and zoomed it until he located the corner he wanted. "There."

"What is it?" Pete asked.

"Snakes & Suits. A bar."

"Association has a capture or kill order out on you," Victoria said. "Your name and picture are on it. You can't just walk into a bar."

"If Carden's not there, they'll be able to get a message to him. And he's not going to listen to someone he doesn't know," William added to forestall what was likely to be their next idea.

"Four-person team," Pete said. "Go in at dusk so patrols won't be able to see his face clearly. Two on guard, William and one of ours go in."

Victoria continued to frown at the map. "I don't like it."

"The bar's friendly." William shrugged. "We might be able to bring in a few other people too."

Pete nodded with an unseemly amount of enthusiasm. "We're doing it."

Victoria pulled up what looked like a duty roster.

"Don't bother," Gabe said. "I'm going, which means you'll send Ryland and Suarez."

"No way," Victoria said over the top of him.

"You always send them with me."

"You're not going." Victoria pointed a finger at Gabe. "I'm not chancing you on a mission we could send the littlest Alex on."

"I'm going," Gabe said again.

"No."

"Victoria." Gabe's voice was sharp that time. "I'm going in with William. Ryland and Suarez can back us up."

Victoria frowned. "I don't like it."

Gabe's stance softened. "I know. I'm doing it anyway." To William he said, "We'll go tomorrow."

***

Travis and the team he'd gone out with came back just before dinner with Maja and their girls.

"Uncle William!" Astrid leaped at him, and William swung her up in his arms.

"Hi, sweetheart. I've missed you." He didn't realize just how true that was until he said it.

Astrid wrapped her arms around his neck. "You were gone and then Daddy left and it was scary, but we still had Mommy to protect us."

"Your mommy's always going to protect you." William shifted Astrid to one side so he could lean down and hug Maja.

"Of course I am," she said. She held William close for a long time. "We were very worried."

"I'm sorry. I've been safe."

Maja stepped back and looked him up and down. "Travis said you've been here for three weeks. It's done you some good. You're not so skinny."

"Neither are you," William said without thinking, because she was beginning to show.

Maja grinned and put her hand over the swell of her belly. "Baby number three." She reached out to Astrid. "Give your sister a turn."

William passed Astrid to her and turned to take Ingrid from Travis. She sniffled a little and curled into his chest. William cradled her a little closer and looked up at Travis and Maja for an explanation.

"It's been a tough couple of weeks," Maja said.

"We're all safe," William murmured into Ingrid's hair, "and we're all here. You're gonna like it here."

He looked up to find Gabe standing on the edge of their little group watching him with a look he couldn't interpret. When William caught his eyes, he seemed to shake himself out of it and put on his usual smile.

"Hello. I'm Gabe. You must be Maja."

Maja did the thing she did where she took someone in with just a glance and made up her mind about them. She seemed to approve of Gabe because she smiled at him.

"Yes," she said. "This is Astrid. William has Ingrid."

"Hi, Astrid, Ingrid."

Ingrid turned her head to hide against William's chest.

Gabe smiled a little softer. "We have a tent set up for you, and dinner should be ready in just a bit." Gabe gestured for them to follow him. "You can rest up for a while or William can show you around the camp."

***

Victoria gave William back everything they'd confiscated when he'd arrived. He was a lot happier at the prospect of going on a mission with his own gear.

They took horses. William knew them well enough now that he had a relationship with the one he was riding, and Gabe's too. William was sneaky enough that Nate had never noticed him slipping her extra treats as a thank-you for helping Gabe save his life.

They left the horses at an unstaffed way station close to the forest's edge and went on foot into the city. They'd come in close enough that it wasn't too much of a walk before they were crossing a street onto Snakes & Suits' block.

"Standard signals," Ryland said as they approached. "Keep your comm open."

"I have done this before," Gabe told him.

"Sure," Ryland agreed, "but we lose you on this one, Vicky-T'll have our heads. Fangs up," he added as he broke away from them to take up a position across the street.

Suarez stopped next to the door. "Don't make Vicky-T kill us."

"Nothing's going to happen," Gabe said.

William pulled the door open just wide enough to slip through. He could feel Gabe's presence behind him as he did a visual sweep of the room. Mike was at one end of the bar, Nick behind it, three men sharing a pitcher in a far corner.

Mike looked up. William flashed the hand signals for "quiet" and "careful" before he could say or do anything more. Nick would know to be circumspect.

William jerked his head at a table near the back, away from the other customers, and held up three fingers at Nick in a silent order. Gabe followed him to the table and Mike came over a moment later and dropped into a chair.

"Christ," Mike said. "Seriously, Bill, what the fuck?" He stopped talking while Nick put three beers on the table in front of them.

"This is Gabe," William said when Nick was out of earshot again. "He's part of the Resistance. Real deal, organized and everything."

Mike snorted. "They're all organized." He eyed Gabe skeptically. "You can't believe every guy who tells you that just because you want to fuck them."

William ignored it, but he could feel Gabe's eyes on him. "I've been at one of their camps for three weeks. Jon's in, and he's been having them keep an eye out for us. Butcher and Michael are in." William sipped his beer to give Mike a moment to let that sink in.

Mike looked from William to Gabe and back again. "And you're deep in."

William leaned forward. "This is it, Mike. They're making progress."

Gabe leaned forward too. "For the past three weeks," he said, "we've had William doing safe camp chores only. No field missions, no fun stuff, and no propaganda. We only found out someone with us was looking for him two days ago. He doesn't believe in us because we've talked him into it."

"William," Mike said, "has a bad habit of falling for unsuitable revolutionaries."

"Travis and Maja brought the girls," William told him.

Mike paused with his glass just touching his lips, and then followed through and drank. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Come with us." William reached out and put his hand on Mike's arm. "Be a part of this."

Mike shook his head and looked down into his glass. William knew he was going to say yes.

***

Gabe didn't bring up what Mike had said about William wanting to fuck him.

***

One of the Alexes found William to let him know Gabe was looking for him. William headed to the command tent and was surprised to find Gabe alone. Victoria had been there every other time William had.

William settled onto a cushion across from Gabe.

"Pete's going to invite you to go with him," Gabe said without preamble, "if he hasn't already. He'll offer you your own team, even your old team if you want, and your pick of missions." Gabe rested his elbows on his knees and laced his fingers together. "If you stay here, you'll go on the missions Victoria and I give you with the team we assign you. You'll be on camp duty rotation, too - everyone is. The difference here is that Pete's leading a revolution, and we're going to win, but he's not thinking much about afterwards. We," Gabe waved one arm out to encompass the camp, "here, we're building the future. We have the highest proportion of children and families of any of the camps, and no one is exempt from keeping it running. If you stay with us, you can be a part of that." Gabe sat back.

William wanted to say yes, wanted to throw himself at Gabe and follow him to the end of the fucking world. But there was the rest of his old team to think about, and Travis and Maja.

"Just think about it," Gabe said. "This isn't a one-time offer. If you go with Pete, you can always come back, and I'm sure Pete's offer is the same."

"I'll think about it," William promised.

Gabe looked at him thoughtfully, but didn't say anything other than to dismiss him.

***

William found Travis and Maja lounging beneath a tree watching the girls play with a bunch of other kids. They scooted apart to make room for William between them. It was one of the things he loved about them.

"Are you going with Pete?" he asked after enough time had passed that his breath had synchronized with theirs.

"Yes," Maja answered for them. "His camp is safe, and the girls will already have a home when I can go on missions again."

"You're staying," Travis said. It wasn't a question.

"Gabe said I could." That wasn't quite an answer either.

Travis hugged him closer. "Pete says messages go back and forth all the time."

Maja leaned into him too. "And you can come visit us."

"I'll miss you," William said in barely a whisper.

"We'll miss you." Travis pressed a kiss to William's temple. "Gabe and Victoria damn well better keep you as safe as they can."

William nodded wordlessly and pressed closer to both of them.

***

Mike also left with Travis, Maja, the girls, and Pete in the morning. He seemed resigned to the fact that William wasn't going with them.

"Don't let him get you killed," he said before he left.

"You either."

"Not the same thing," Mike said. William followed his gaze to where Pete and Gabe were standing together. "I'll say no if Pete wants me to do something that's going to get me killed."

"I'm not going to get killed."

Mike sighed and hugged William. "Don't. I'll tell Butcher and Chiz you said hi."

William swallowed back the way that reminded him again about Sisky and what he was giving up by not going with his old team.

Travis, Maja, and the girls all hugged him, too, with both Astrid and Ingrid clinging to him until he had to give them back to Travis and Maja to leave.

He was watching them all go when Gabe slung an arm over his shoulders. Gabe didn't say anything, just stood with him until they were out of sight.

***

Gabe and Victoria sent William on a couple of simple recon missions and worked him into the regular camp duty schedule. Conversations continued even at his approach. He learned where and what the camp's tech was. His camp duty rotation included child care.

Gabe joined him on his first time on child care duty. "It's like playing hooky," he said, "except Vicky-T lets me get away with it." Gabe knew every kid's name and threw himself into playing tag, mediating disputes, and making sure everyone knew when and how to throw up the fangs, Cobra Camp's signal of solidarity. William suspected that last was at least partially for his benefit.

And then came the day when he answered a summons to the command tent and found Gabe grinning maniacally, Victoria smiling fondly, and Suarez, Ryland, and Nate waiting patiently.

"We're taking out a comm station," Gabe told him. "And we thought since you have experience with that you might be able to help."

"And this time you're not going to get the Association after you," Victoria added, but she was smiling so it wasn't meant to be mean. "We're much better informed."

She put William in charge of explosives. He had to take a minute, when Gabe took him to the armory to pick out what he needed, to think about what that meant, now, that they would let him.

"Quit stalling," Gabe said. "Let's blow this popsicle stand."

"I know how to make bombs just strong enough to kick your ass without killing you," William warned.

Gabe held up his hands to protest his innocence. "You're the expert."

"Damn right I am." Their armory was amazingly well stocked and organized. It didn't take William long to assemble what he needed to take out a comm station - and no extras to kick Gabe's ass, although he was tempted for a moment.

They put Gabe and William in the middle of their formation once they got close enough to the comm station for it to matter.

"Going silent," Gabe said, his voice echoing in the comm in William's ear.

The comm station came into sight, and they all stopped, crouching down to watch. Their information said that this side of the station should be unguarded now. They watched long enough to know it was true before they moved out in a wide arc.

Association comm stations were all built on the same plan, and William had done this before. It was easy enough to plant charges in the right places to disable the comm station without taking out any of its personnel.

They got out without a hitch, too. Having the Resistance's resources made a huge difference.

"Want to watch?" he asked when they'd pulled back far enough that Gabe lifted their radio silence.

"Vicky-T?" Gabe asked, his voice whispering in all their ears, even as they moved back in together for their return to camp.

Victoria's sigh echoed in their ears. She muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "Boys," and then said, loud enough to be heard clearly, "Stay clear. You should have time."

With their optics, they had a good view of the comm station. William kept an eye on the time. His charges went off exactly when he'd set them to, a coordinated burst of sound and fire.

"Damn." Gabe's admiring whisper came in stereo from both beside William and over the comm in his ear.

They watched the building empty out and the fire spread until Victoria said in their ears, "Association knows it's down. Personnel are all clear. Get back here before they find you."

William was on, focused, all the way back to camp. It wasn't until they'd turned the horses over to Bryan, one of the Alexes-who-wasn't-but-might-as-well-be, that his usual post explosives op jitters set in. Something about setting bombs always ramped up his adrenaline.

With his old team, they would have partied or played music until everyone was calm again, but this was his first explosives op with Gabe's team, and he didn't know what their rituals were.

Their first stop was the command tent to report in to Victoria, who grinned at them. "Good work."

Gabe wrapped an arm around her and smacked a kiss onto her cheek. "You know we always get the job done."

Victoria chuckled, and leaned into it for a moment before pushing Gabe away. "Anything unusual, anything we didn't get over the comms?"

"Smooth as butter," Gabe assured her.

"Good work." She waved everyone but Gabe away. "Get out of here. You're off duty for the afternoon. Enjoy it."

"Victoria," Gabe said.

"Gabriel," she said. They stared at each other for a moment, and then she sighed. "Go!"

Gabe grinned brightly at her. "I love you, too, Vicky-T." He grabbed William's wrist. "Let's get out of here before she changes her mind," he stage-whispered.

Nate, Ryland, and Suarez peeled away from them as they moved away from the command tent, but Gabe kept his grip on William's wrist. It helped with his post-op jitters, having something concrete to focus on.

Gabe pulled him along with enough determination and purpose that people stayed out of their way. Gabe eventually dragged him into a tent William realized must be his when he saw shoes he recognized lined up neatly along one wall.

"What?" he asked, not sure how to finish the question.

Gabe let go of his wrist long enough to tie the flap shut and flip the switch for the sound dampener. When he turned back, the look on his face was something darker and more predatory than anything William had seen from him before.

"You," he said, "drive me crazy."

Before William could even begin to figure out an appropriate response to that, Gabe's hands were on either side of his face and Gabe's mouth came down on his.

William fought back into the kiss, grabbing at Gabe and biting his lip. Yes, yes, this would do as a come-down.

He pushed Gabe back. "Wait a sec." He took off his pack and carefully set it down at the edge of one of the walls.

He pressed himself back up against Gabe. With the pack out of the way, Gabe was free to dig his fingers into William's back. William retaliated by sinking his teeth into Gabe's neck.

Gabe let out a startled groan. "I'm going to fuck you," he promised into William's ear.

 _Yes_ , William thought, but. "You think you can?" He moved his mouth a few inches and bit down again.

"I know I can." Gabe bit him back, sucking deep against the underside of his jaw.

William didn't doubt it, but he was still running down his adrenaline, so he was going to make Gabe _work_ for it. They grappled and bit and scratched their way naked. William knew that if they'd had more space, it would have been even more of a fight.

Gabe was just bigger enough, and William was just this side of pulling his survival instinct that wanted him to _win_ , that William ended up pinned face down on Gabe's bedroll. He made sure to push back up against Gabe's hold instead of melting into it the way he wanted to. It was easier when Gabe pulled him up onto his knees. He tugged against Gabe's hands on his hips and got his ass bitten for it. He barely managed to keep himself from falling forward at that.

Gabe chuckled a little and slapped over the bite. "Hold still."

William let his head drop and waited until he felt the first push of Gabe's cock to start moving again. He put every bit of muscle into bracing himself against the bedroll and the ground beneath it so he could slam his hips back into Gabe's. It left him without a hand for his own cock, and Gabe wasn't touching him either. But then it didn't matter, because Gabe scraped his nails down William's side and bit his shoulder and William came without needing to be touched.

His adrenaline had pretty much burnt out, so he stopped forcing his arms to hold him up and let his chest collapse down onto the bedroll. Gabe held his hips up with a grip tight enough to leave marks. William reached lazily back to cover one of Gabe's hands with his.

Gabe half choked out William's name and dug his fingernails deeper into his hips as he came. He stayed there, close against William for a moment before he let out a shuddering breath and moved to lie next to him instead.

William turned on his side to face Gabe. He was too tired to do anything other than just look.

Gabe leaned in, though, and kissed him, slow and deep, and nothing like their earlier kisses. They traded kisses for a while, William fighting sleep to do it, until Gabe got the listening look he had when he was getting something over his comm. Then he sighed and kissed William a little more firmly.

"Commander's work is never done." He rolled to his feet. "No," he said when William started to push himself up. "You stay." He pulled on his pants and leaned over to press his lips against William's. "You still get the rest of the afternoon off."

William watched him shrug his shirt back on, pull on his socks, tie his shoes. Then he knelt over William again. He cupped William's face in his hands, his thumbs rubbing across William's cheek.

"Hey," Gabe said.

William smiled against his hands. "Hey." He leaned up and met Gabe's kiss halfway.

Gabe pulled away. "I'll see you later." He pressed his lips against William's forehead. "Get some sleep. You did good work today."

William pushed at Gabe's shoulders. "I always do good work. Get out of here."

Gabe grinned and ducked out of the tent, retying the flap behind him. William pulled Gabe's bedroll around him and dropped off into sleep.

He woke up feeling sore and satisfied in a way he hadn't in a long time. There wasn't an obvious clock in Gabe's tent - he probably used his implanted tech to get the time - so William dug one out of his pack. Late enough that he should get up if he wanted dinner.

He cataloged the marks on his body as he got dressed. The scratches on his hips were deep lines of red but Gabe hadn't broken the skin. There were tender spots across the back of his shoulders and under his jaw. He poked around until he found a mirror; the only thing that would show once he was dressed was the bruise under his jaw, and if he was lucky, no one would notice it in the growing twilight.

He considered taking his pack to the tent he was sharing with Nate, but now that he was up and moving, he just wanted food. Besides, he was hoping to come back here afterwards.

A rush of cool air greeted him when he untied the flap, so he ducked back in and grabbed the spare sweater out of his pack to pull over his shirt.

He was eating and listening to a couple of the Alexes argue about vegetable storage when Gabe found him. Gabe sat close enough that his knee rested against William's. Victoria came with him and sat on William's other side, but a few inches farther away.

"That was the cleanest explosives work to ever come out of our camp," she said. "Think you could give some pointers to some of our other teams?"

Gabe leaned over, his shoulder against William's. "Vicky-T's gearing up for head of education after the revolution."

"Ignore him," Victoria said. "What do you say?"

"We talking pointers, or we talking Explosives 101?"

"More like Explosives 102 for most of our people. Alexes probably need 101."

"I'm going to need some space," William told her, already thinking through supply lists and lesson plans. "Cleared and isolated."

Victoria nodded. "I might have a place. I'll let you know."

After she left, William turned back to Gabe. He was talking to one of the teenagers about something that might have been poker strategy, but he reached over and squeezed William's knee.

The usual parade of people wandered by to talk to Gabe about everything from mission details to intercepted entertainment broadcasts. When things started to slow down, Gabe leaned in close to William. "Why don't you go move your things from Nate's tent to mine."

William could feel his lips moving to match the curl of warmth spreading through him. "Yeah?" He'd wanted nothing more than to stay with Gabe maybe since the moment Gabe had pulled him up onto his horse.

"Yeah." Gabe's voice dropped into a low growl. "I'm not done with you yet."

"I'm not done with you either," William promised. "And I had a nice long nap, so I'm very well-rested."

Gabe gave an exaggerated yawn. "I'm very tired." He winked. "At least that's what I'm going to tell Vicky-T."

***

"The bitch of it is," Gabe said when he pushed through the flap later, "that I really am tired." He lined his shoes up with the others and flopped down with his head in William's lap.

"Commander's work is never done." William pushed his fingers through Gabe's hair and then scritched at his scalp.

Gabe groaned. "It is worth every second of it if I get to come home to you."

William knew he was grinning like a loon, but he couldn't stop. "You could just let me do all the work."

"While I lay back and think of England?"

"Nah, you lay back and think of me." William tugged at Gabe. "But first let me get you out of those clothes."

"All you had to do was ask." Gabe only half cooperated, though; he kept insisting on kissing William instead of just letting William undress him.

"Stop it," William laughed as he said it, "or I'll tie you up."

"I don't think I have the energy for that tonight." Gabe actually looked sorry to be saying it. "Maybe next time."

That time William kissed him. "Then stop getting in my way." He got the rest of Gabe's clothes off and pushed him down into their combined bedrolls. He made a show out of getting his own clothes off, which Gabe appreciated if his growing erection was anything to go by.

He crawled his way up Gabe's body, dropping kisses along his legs until he got to Gabe's cock. He didn't bother teasing, just took Gabe in as deep as he could and sucked.

"Fuck! William!" Gabe's hips made an abortive upward thrust.

William held the taste and feel of Gabe, heavy and full against his tongue, in his mouth for a few moments longer before he resumed kissing his way up Gabe's body.

"I love your mouth," Gabe said fervently after William kissed him again.

"It's yours," William said without thinking. He didn't want to take it back anyway. While Gabe's hands ran over his face, he reached behind Gabe for the slick he'd made sure was where he wanted it when he was moving himself in.

"Hey, wait," Gabe protested when William pushed two slick fingers into himself. "I thought you were doing all the work here."

"I am." William put his dry hand on Gabe's chest and slicked the other one over Gabe's cock. "You just lie there."

"After earlier," Gabe said, watching William's face, "you're already going to be feeling me for a week."

"So I'll feel you for two."

"William," Gabe said, still watching him, "you can fuck me."

"And maybe next time I will," William said, watching him back. "This time I'm going to ride you."

Gabe reached for him and cupped his hands around William's hips. "I don't want to hurt you."

William scowled down at him. "I don't need taking care of."

"It's one of the things I like about you," Gabe said evenly. "I still don't want to be responsible for hurting you."

"You're not." William ended the discussion by sliding down onto Gabe's cock. "You're giving me what I want." He covered Gabe's hands with his and squeezed, pressing them into the marks already on his skin.

He managed a couple of rolls of his hips before Gabe was tugging at him. "No, wait." Gabe used his grip on William's body to pull himself up.

William's frustration bubbled up into a noise at the back of his throat. "What-"

"I want- Will you just move with me?" Gabe pushed and pulled and tugged until he had his knees under him. "There," he said. "Now you can ride me."

It put them close enough that Gabe could wrap his arms around William and grab his hips from around his back. It also forced William's legs wider.

"But make it fast. My knees can't take this for long."

"You're awfully bossy for someone who's supposed to be letting me do all the work." William rolled his hips, trying to figure out what was going to work best like that.

"And you're awfully uncooperative for a guy who's getting what he says he wants." Gabe slid one hand down from William's hip to his ass. "I'm fucking you, okay? So stop fighting me." Gabe covered William's mouth with his and rolled his hips in counterpoint to William's.

Together they found a rhythm without talking, and Gabe's hand moved from William's ass to his cock where he stroked in the same rhythm.

It didn't take long before William was curling over Gabe and coming across both their stomachs. He kept moving, for Gabe, until Gabe's low groan let him know he didn't need to anymore.

Gabe kissed him sloppily for a while before William pushed him back down onto the bedroll. He reached for the cloth he'd also made sure to have nearby and cleaned them both up before settling in next to Gabe and pulling the bedroll around them.

"Are you always that much trouble in bed?"

William glared at Gabe, but he was sated and well-fucked, so it was less than sincere. "And here I was trying to make it good for you."

"Oh, it was." Gabe reached out to kill the lights and then tugged William closer, so they were pressed together from shoulder to ankle. "It was very, very good," he murmured into William's ear.

William closed his eyes and shifted so he could cuddle himself against Gabe's body. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept with someone he trusted enough to actually fall asleep with. It was nice.

Gabe's hand running through his hair was also nice.

"I thought you were tired," William said after a while. Gabe's hand stopped moving, and there was the press of his lips against William's temple.

"You make me forget that I want to sleep."

William turned his head enough to find a patch of Gabe's skin to kiss. He didn't want to think about what his voice might give away if he responded directly to that.

"Why Cobra Camp?" he asked instead.

Gabe huffed out a breath that might have been a laugh. "Not many people know this story."

"I won't tell it," William promised.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing you're already in my bed." Gabe's fingers started moving through William's hair and across his skin again.

William grinned. "That kind of story, huh?"

"Probably not how you think." William could hear the answering grin in Gabe's voice. "I was working with this team, and I was pretty tired of it. I still believed we needed to get rid of the Association, but." Gabe shrugged, enough for William to feel it but not enough to displace him. "I didn't think we were getting anywhere with what we were doing. So I hooked up with this group that was traveling around, and I ended up in the desert where there are still a few tribes. I ended up going on a sort of accidental vision quest."

William couldn't help laughing. "How do you accidentally go on a vision quest?"

"Hush." Gabe was almost laughing too. "There was peyote and a snake bite, it was a thing." He quieted again. "I saw The Cobra. It told me that what we were doing wasn't working, and that I needed to bring a new way to the resistance. It has to be about dancing and love, and working for a future that's better than this one."

"Like Emma Goldman," William said.

"Yes." There was a pleased note in Gabe's voice, and his fingers pressed warm and flat against William's body. "I'd met Pete before, so when I worked my way back, I talked to him and he said he'd help me set up a new camp."

"And then you got Victoria," William guessed.

"No," Gabe corrected. "Nate came first, and then Ryland and Alex. Suarez. And then Elisa." There was a hard edge to the name. "She was Association."

William caught one of Gabe's hands in his and threaded their fingers together. After a long moment, Gabe exhaled and relaxed against him.

"Vicky-T came later. And then others, families, the Alexes. And you."

"And me," William agreed. "I haven't seen much dancing," he said after a moment.

Gabe's laugh came warm and bright in the darkness. "We'll have to do more of that, then."

***

William woke up before Gabe. If he'd let himself think about it he might have guessed Gabe would be as used to early mornings as he was now, but maybe Gabe liked to sleep, or maybe he relied on his tech to wake him up. Either way, he watched Gabe in the light starting to seep in around the edges of the tent flap. He could tell when Gabe woke up, his face tensing and relaxing again.

"People in the cities don't know."

"Don't know what?" If Gabe was surprised or troubled to be having a discussion before he even opened his eyes, it didn't show.

"About any of this. There are rumors about people in the woods, but no real information." William sat up and looked down at Gabe. "They don't know that there's anything else. They don't know there's a real Resistance. They don't know there's another way."

Gabe opened his eyes and reached out to run a hand down William's side. "We haven't had a lot of luck before."

"So try again." It came out a lot fiercer than William expected.

Gabe's mouth stretched into a wide grin, and he propped himself up far enough to get to William. "I like you better every time you yell at me," he said after he kissed William. William scowled at him, and Gabe chuckled.

"It's probably time for me to go visit Pete anyway." Gabe used his grip on William to pull himself up so he was sitting too. "You want to come with me?"

"Yes," William answered without hesitation. He'd sent a few messages back and forth to Mike and to Travis and Maja, but it would be good to see them.

"Vicky-T's going to kick my ass for taking you away after she's finally figured out a way to get you to teach something." Gabe didn't look particularly upset by the prospect. He pressed a quick, firm kiss against William's lips. "Probably be a couple of days before we can leave. She'll have you on regular duty rotation until then."

William nodded and looked down.

Gabe tipped his head up with one finger under his chin. "You're staying with me, you know."

William turned his head into Gabe's hand. "Am I?"

Gabe pushed up onto his knees, which brought him closer and meant William had to look up at him. "You are." He kissed William long and deep, and then broke away to swear. "Vicky-T's insisting I stop canoodling and get to work. She's not going to let me get away with keeping you here all morning." He stood up and started sorting out his clothes from William's, tossing William's back toward him.

***

Victoria was, as Gabe predicted, annoyed that he insisted on taking William with him to Clandestine Camp before she could even work explosives training into his regular duty roster.

"You don't really have everything I need anyway," William pointed out. "I'll make you a list, and we can start up when I get back." She wasn't much happier with that, but she did give him a data pad to make a list on and start combing the duty roster to find a team to send with them.

It took four days before they were ready to go. Four days of William being on regular duty during the day and going home to Gabe's tent at night. Four days of learning how little time Gabe really had to himself. William was asleep before Gabe even got back to the tent, and even in the mornings they barely managed a few minutes together. One morning William only knew Gabe had been there because their bedroll was too warm for it to have been just him in it all night.

"Winter's tougher," Gabe said during one of their mornings of stolen kisses. "It takes more work to keep everyone fed."

William put his head down on Gabe's shoulder. "I'm not so selfish I'd take you away from that."

"Someday," Gabe whispered, "when this is all over, it'll be just you and me and a real bed."

William smiled against the warmth of Gabe's skin. "I don't even know if I remember what a real bed feels like."

Gabe laughed softly. "And you've only been here a couple of months."

"It feels like longer." William didn't only mean his time at the camp.

"I know."

When he looked up, Gabe was looking at him with the softest eyes.

"You still like me even when I'm not yelling at you?" William teased.

"William," Gabe said softly, "I think I'll always like you."

***

"Association doesn't usually come this deep into the forest," Ryland said when they finally set out for Clandestine Camp. "But stay alert anyway."

It took the better part of two days to get there - two days that included Gabe and William on separate night watch shifts - but they arrived without any run-ins with the Association or anyone else.

On the way into the camp, William watched Ryland and Alex silently signaling guards. His woodcraft had gotten good enough that he only missed two of them.

When they got to the edge of the camp, they handed the horses' reins over to a guy with glasses and a labret.

"This is Andy," Gabe said after everyone else had a chance to greet the guy. "You'll have to get him to show you his ink when we're somewhere warmer. Andy, this is William."

"Hey," Andy said. He reached out to shake William's hand. "I've heard a lot about you. Make sure you find Joe sometime before you leave. I know he wants to talk housings or triggers or something."

"Yeah," William agreed. "I'll do that."

A woman with red hair swept away from the side of her face met them as they went deeper into the camp. Gabe picked her up with his hug, and she laughed before she made him put her down.

"Ashlee, Ashlee, Ashlee," Gabe said, not quite letting go of her, "I can't believe you're still here and not with me."

The Ashlee girl grinned, but she was looking more at William than at Gabe when she said, "You know I'm never leaving Pete." She pushed Gabe away and held out her hand to William. "You must be William."

"Ashlee?" William guessed. Her hand was soft in his.

"That's me." Ashlee looped her arm through William's. "Come on. I'll show you around while Gabe does the serious business stuff with Pete."

"Um." William looked to Gabe, who, instead of helping, grinned at them.

"We'll send someone to find you before we talk serious business about PR." And then he took Ryland and Alex and left William with Ashlee dragging him in a different direction.

"Guest tents are over there." Ashlee pointed out a group of tents. "We started numbering them. You and Gabe will be in 612." She shrugged. "Pete thought nonconsecutive numbering would be more interesting."

She pointed out a handful of other landmarks on their way into what appeared to be the social center of the camp.

"Almost everyone's in camp today," Ashlee explained as they got nearer to an open area with a bunch of crowded tables. She took a couple of faster steps toward a teenager who met them at the edge. The teenager was carrying a baby he handed over to Ashlee. "Hi, baby." Ashlee kissed the baby's cheek. "This is our son, Bronx." Bronx was a cute, round-faced kid, who twisted to look at his mother even as she tried to get him to look at William.

William passed his hand over Bronx's short, soft hair. "Hi, Bronx." He smiled as Bronx twisted to look up at him and then turned back toward Ashlee.

Ashlee pressed another kiss to the top of Bronx's head. "Let's help William find his friends."

They found his old team first. Mike, Butcher, and Michael sat around a table. A curly-haired guy in white jeans leaned against Mike's shoulder. Another two guys in the same mold sat across from them having some kind of spirited discussion.

Ashlee left sometime during the time William exchanged hugs with his old team and got introduced to the new members. The one with Mike was named Kevin; the other two were his brothers Nick and Joe.

William had barely had a chance to say hello to them before all three of them looked resigned.

"Mom's calling us," Kevin explained, and William realized they had implanted tech too. "It was very nice to meet you, William. We'll probably see you at dinner." He leaned down and exchanged a kiss with Mike that left Mike blushing and unable to meet William's eyes.

It was Butcher who grinned at him and explained. "They used to be Association. That's why they have the good tech. They belong to some religious sect, which means they're pledged to virginity until marriage." Butcher had to pause while William laughed. "Yeah. They still hold prayer meetings, too. But they're good people. Some Association division they were with kept pressuring Kevin to date some girl, so they left."

"And now," Michael added, "he has Mike wrapped around his little finger."

William laughed again. "Now who's falling for unsuitable revolutionaries?"

"Fuck you," Mike said. "At least he's not likely to get me killed."

"We going to get to meet your unsuitable revolutionary?" Michael asked.

William resolutely did not blush, and he didn't bother to argue that Gabe wasn't unsuitable. "Yeah. He's meeting with Pete right now. They're supposed to get me to talk about PR." William tapped out a nonsense beat on the table, and Mike responded with the hand signals for both "safe" and "listeners." William stopped tapping. "I think we need to get the word out, in the cities, that there's something else out there."

"Nick'll help," Butcher said immediately.

William smiled. It was good to be with his old team, even if it did make his throat catch with the memory of how much he missed Sisky.

They'd been talking for a while, working out plans and ideas in a combination of words and the hand signals that were a habit they hadn't yet been able to break, when Pete and Gabe found them. They were trailed by a third man, short and vaguely familiar. Gabe sat down next to William, not quite touching, but close enough for William to feel the warmth of his body.

Pete and the other man sat down across from them. "This is Patrick," Pete said, slinging an arm around Patrick.

"Stump," Patrick said. "I think we sort of worked in parallel circles a couple of years ago."

Pete frowned. "If they were circles, shouldn't they be concentric, not parallel?"

"Feel free to ignore Pete," Patrick told him. "You used to jam broadcasts, right? Replace them with a code the Association could never break."

William grinned. "Because it wasn't a code. Just recorded explosions we used to string together."

"So you have PR experience," Pete said.

"Enough," William agreed. "And you have the resources to make our plans a reality."

William's old team let him take the lead on explaining their plans to Pete, Patrick, and Gabe. Some of Pete's ideas were fairly outrageous, but Patrick knew what he was talking about.

William didn't realize they were still using hand signals until Gabe stifled a laugh at something that wasn't funny. William shot him a look, and Gabe looked pointedly at his hands.

He and Mike had been exchanging desultory insults about Gabe and Kevin between laying out practical ideas for getting the word out about the Resistance.

William tried to put his hands in his lap instead, but Gabe grabbed them and put them back on the table.

"I like watching you talk," Gabe murmured into his ear. William was still a little more careful about what he said about Gabe after that.

Their planning lasted until Ashlee, Bronx still on her hip, came to interrupt them.

"It's almost dinner time, and I bet you haven't even taken William to see his other friends," she chided. "Besides, Bronx wanted to see his daddy."

Pete reached his arms out for the baby. "Daddy always wants to see you."

"Come on," Ashlee offered. "I'll take you to Travis and Maja."

Gabe touched a hand to William's hip. "I'll catch up with you at dinner."

William reached down to tangle his fingers with Gabe's for just a second before following Ashlee. Their path took them away from the camp's center.

"Maja's on bed rest. It's driving her crazy, but it does make her easy to find." Ashlee stopped in front of a large tent and rapped on the knocker hanging next to the flap. Maja's voice invited them in, and Ashlee said, "I brought you a visitor," as she pushed into the tent.

"William!" Maja's face lit up, and Travie rolled to his feet.

"You didn't tell us you were coming." Travis wrapped William up in one of his wonderful, warm hugs.

"I tagged along with Gabe." When Travie let him go, William kicked off his shoes and curled himself up with Maja.

"You still could have sent word," Maja said, but she took William's hand and put it over her stomach so he could feel the baby kick.

Travis settled in on the other side of William and the three of them traded stories about their respective camps.

"You can stay with us," Maja offered.

William managed to say, "Gabe and I have one of the guest tents," without blushing, but Travis and Maja still had one of their unspoken couple conversations over his head.

"Is he good to you?"

William nodded and then tipped his chin up so the light would fall on the yellowing bruise under his jaw. "And I have the hickeys to prove it."

"He ever stops," Maja said, "you let me know. Even pregnant I could kick his ass."

William felt such a rush of affection for her. "I don't think it'll come to that."

A bell rang, cutting through whatever Travis or Maja might have had to say about that.

"Dinner," Maja explained. She reached over William to Travis. "Help me up."

"You're supposed to be resting," Travis objected.

"It's not that far, and William's here." Maja held her other hand out to William. "One dinner with the rest of the camp isn't going to hurt me or the baby."

William looked to Travis for guidance.

"If we don't help," he sighed. "She'll just do it by herself."

Travis and Maja sat on one side of a table with William on the other. With the kind of kid-radar they seemed to have, Astrid and Ingrid found them as soon as they were seated, and they both flung themselves at William. He had them settled in his lap telling him all about the amazing things they'd been doing when Gabe sat down next to him, the brief touch of his hand to the small of William's back serving as a greeting. William turned automatically to include him in the conversation.

Gabe disappeared to deal with more leader business after dinner. William helped Travis walk Maja back to their tent and then left them alone to rest. His old team was gathered close to the central fire with a group of other people and a surprisingly large number of guitars. When William got to them, Mike's boyfriend and one of his brothers were playing two of the guitars while the other brother sang. They were much better than William expected. He sat down next to Mike.

"They're good."

Mike nodded. "A little soft, but yeah." He looked at William. "Your revolutionary play?"

William shrugged. "I've heard him singing once or twice, but we haven't talked about it." He looked at the assembled group again. "Lot of instruments."

"Patrick has a contact," Mike said.

"Gets good stuff too," Kevin said as he sat down on the other side of Mike. Mike's face softened as Kevin rested his chin on Mike's shoulder. William wondered if that was how he looked when Gabe touched him.

The party broke up after a while. "It's sort of equal parts cute and funny," Butcher said as they watched Mike walk Kevin back to his family's tent.

"They're seriously not having sex?"

"That's the funny part." Butcher clapped him on the shoulder and went off toward his own tent.

William intended to wait up for Gabe, but they'd been travelling for two days that included night guard duty shifts, and Clandestine Camp had seriously well heated guest tents, both of which conspired to send him to sleep. He half woke when Gabe slid into the bedroll with him.

"Hey."

"Hey." Gabe kissed him lightly. "I didn't mean to wake you."

William turned toward him and slung an arm over Gabe's body. "Was trying to wait up."

Gabe chuckled. "You have plans for when I got back?"

William pressed closer to Gabe. "Not really." He found Gabe's mouth in the dark and kissed him sleepily. "Wanted to see you." He was already drifting off and missed whatever Gabe's response was.

***

They spent three days at Clandestine Camp. It was enough time for William to learn how much Maja hated being on bed rest, get to know Kevin, and find that Gabe wasn't any less busy when he wasn't at his home camp.

It was also enough time to make a fairly solid plan to get the word out to people in the cities about the Resistance, and a slightly shakier plan for creating Resistance networks within the cities.

It felt like they were finally getting somewhere.

***

William settled back into the daily rhythms of Cobra Camp that had become his routine, trading off camp duty and explosives training with long-range comm strategizing over the PR situation and missions in the outer world. Life with Gabe became, if not routine, at least familiar. Gabe continued to be busy nearly every minute of the day, but he managed to find, make, or downright force his way into time to spend with William. William soaked up every moment of it, from the times it was nothing more than just a minute of kissing to the few nights Gabe dragged him back to their tent after dinner with the gleeful promise that he'd turned all responsibilities short of death over to Vicky-T and taken the night off.

***

The door to the armory slammed shut. William, on inventory duty, had one of the guns in his hand before the sound stopped echoing through the space.

"William?" Gabe's voice followed the echo of the door.

"Back here!" William put the gun back in the box and picked up his data pad again.

Gabe's footsteps came towards him and stopped at the end of the row. "How close are you to being done?"

William waved at the stack of boxes. "About an hour, maybe." He looked up at Gabe after he said it. Gabe looked. Well, William wasn't exactly sure how Gabe looked, but it wasn't good. He put the data pad down on top of the stack of boxes. "Or I can be done now."

Gabe came toward him, every movement unnaturally sharp. William could have met him halfway, but instead waited for Gabe to come to him. Gabe crowded him back against the table and kissed him hard enough that their teeth clashed.

William dug his fingers into Gabe's cheeks and pulled and twisted his head until the kiss was still hard but not actually painful. While he was doing that, Gabe slid his hand between them and cupped William through his pants, making him hard so fast he was almost dizzy with it.

William groaned against Gabe's mouth and pushed harder into his hand. It brought him close enough to feel Gabe's cock hard against him.

"Is this what you wanted?" he murmured against Gabe's lips. He spread his fingers around the curves of Gabe's ass and pulled Gabe tight against him.

Gabe hitched one leg up and around William's hip. "I want you to fuck me." He said it between kisses, sharp things with teeth against William's neck.

William caught Gabe's chin in his hand and directed his mouth up again. "Did you bring something?" he asked after long moments of deep kisses that left him aching to have all of Gabe.

Gabe pressed a tube into his hand, and then slipped to the side, leaned over the edge of the table, and pushed his pants down all in one motion. William opened the tube and got his fingers slick enough to push two of them into Gabe at once. Gabe's hands slid against the table as he bent and got better leverage to push back into William's touch.

"That's enough," Gabe said before William thought it really was, but he wasn't going to argue about it. Gabe hissed as William pushed into him. "Harder."

William draped himself close over Gabe's back. "I'm not even moving yet."

Gabe reached back to claw at his hip, his nails leaving stinging lines on William's skin. "So start."

William bit lightly at the back of Gabe's neck. "You wanted me to fuck you. This is what you're getting." From the way Gabe had looked when he'd come in, he didn't just need something hard and fast, he needed to focus on something else for a while. William shifted his hips, just a short, soft slide in and out.

"You are such a bastard in bed."

"And out of it." William said it close enough to Gabe that he could close his teeth over Gabe's earlobe on the last syllable.

"You are so much trouble," Gabe bitched.

"But I'm worth it. In bed and out." William molded his hands around the curves of Gabe's hips and held him still while he worked in and out of Gabe in slow and steady strokes.

Gabe swore at him. "This isn't," he ground out, "exactly what I was asking for."

William dug his fingers into the hollows of Gabe's hips. "This is exactly what you're getting." He kept his thrusts slow enough to frustrate. Gabe on edge was always fun, and Gabe on edge and pissed at him was even more fun. And then, when Gabe pressed up, hands braced against the table to give himself some leverage, William rode him down into the table and then stopped, using his weight to hold Gabe still.

Gabe swore at him, and again when William kicked his legs a little wider. "Come on." He struggled against William's hold, but he was off balance and his hands slid against the table, and he didn't get anywhere. "You're a fucking pain in my ass," he ground out, and then, _finally_ , he stopped fighting and laid himself across the table, his arms stretched out and draped over the other side.

William pressed down into him, touching Gabe at every point possible, for just a moment. Then he kissed the side of Gabe's neck before pushing himself back up to look down at Gabe while he fucked him. He pushed Gabe's shirt up as far as it would go so he could look down at the long line of Gabe's back and then lower to watch his cock move in and out of Gabe.

"You are such a fucking tease," Gabe bitched. He stayed over the table, though, which meant that William didn't care too much what he had to say.

"I always follow through." William proved it by moving faster, harder, enough to make Gabe cry out and the table scrape against the floor. William spared a moment to hope Gabe had turned on the armory's sound dampener or that no one was nearby.

He dug his nails into the flesh of Gabe's shoulder and dragged them down, all the way down and over the curve of Gabe's ass. He echoed Gabe's hissed "Yes" and scratched a matching set of lines on the other side of Gabe's back with his other hand.

He wasn't going to last long with his marks turning red on the canvas of Gabe's skin.

He timed the next scrape of his nails with a thrust hard enough to send the table skittering against the floor and leave Gabe scrambling to hold on. One more and Gabe shouted without words. Another and he wasn't even doing that, just huffing out breaths with each thrust. And then the one after that had him coming and saying William's name on a strangled moan.

William gripped Gabe's hips, and it was only a few short, sharp thrusts before he was coming too.

William leaned down over Gabe and pressed his lips to the center of his back, right over one set of his marks. He pulled back to look down at them for a moment, six sets of parallel lines starting to fade back into Gabe's usual soft brown.

He pulled away and grabbed a cloth from the bucket of clean rags. Gabe stayed where he was, and only moved when William made him turn so he could get them both as clean as he could.

William dumped the rag into the pile of rags waiting to be washed, did up his pants, and came back to put his arms around Gabe. When Gabe dropped his head down onto his shoulder, William cupped a hand around the back of it.

"You gonna tell me what that was about?" he asked after a while.

Gabe let out a shaky breath before he started talking. "There was a camp," he said into William's shoulder. "A small one. Maybe two, three teams and a couple of families."

William guessed some of what was coming and tightened his hold on Gabe.

"Association got them," Gabe whispered. "Killed two of the kids, one of the teams, took everyone else in."

There wasn't anything William could say to make that better, so he just kept holding on.

"I'm putting everyone in danger here." Gabe's voice was almost too soft to be heard.

William pulled back enough to look Gabe in the eye. "Everyone here knows what they're getting themselves into. They're all here because they believe in the resistance, and they believe in what you're doing."

"What about you?" Gabe asked. "Do you believe in what I'm doing?

William pressed his forehead against Gabe's. "I do, but I'm so in love with you I'd be here even if I didn't."

Gabe made a strangled noise and slammed his lips into William's. William kissed back just as fiercely, and then gentled it until they were just trading soft kisses.

Gabe eventually sighed and pulled away. "Give me half the list," he said, holding out his data pad. "I'll help you finish up."

***

Christmas wasn't a huge thing at Cobra Camp the way it could be in the city. There wasn't much in the way of gifts that could be exchanged, and not everyone celebrated it anyway. When Victoria asked William if he wanted to be on duty or off, he said, "Whatever Gabe's doing." She took him literally, and William and Gabe spent the day on kitchen duty.

The real party was planned for New Year's Day, when everyone was officially off and volunteers took short shifts to keep the camp running and everyone fed and safe.

William woke up in the middle of the night before the party to Gabe saying his name and shaking him.

"It's almost midnight."

"What?" William pushed himself up, hoping that sitting up would help him wake up enough to figure out what Gabe wanted.

"New Year's Eve." Gabe tugged William toward him, and he went, sleepy and pliant, and willing to be wherever Gabe wanted him. "If I can't throw a real party, I can at least kiss you at midnight."

William leaned in to be kissed, and they just kept kissing until Gabe pulled back to say, "Midnight. Happy New Year," and then they kept kissing some more.

They woke up late enough to have missed breakfast, and they spent a lazy morning in bed before going out to join the rest of the camp's celebration.

***

Two weeks into the new year, the singing Alex found William on child care duty. William knew, just from the look on his face, that he wasn't going to like whatever brought him there.

"Gabe's in the infirmary," Alex blurted out before William could ask. Then he stepped up to take the kid William was holding. "I got this. Go."

William ran the whole way and burst into the infirmary panting too hard to talk. He gulped for air while he looked around for Gabe. A crowd of people that included Victoria, Ryland, and Suarez surrounded a gurney.

William pushed through the rest of the crowd to reach Gabe's side. He took in Gabe's leg, ripped open and bloody, and the gray cast to Gabe's skin with one sweeping glance, and then tried not to see it.

"What the hell were you thinking? This was supposed to be an easy mission."

Gabe grinned at him, but it was strained around the edges. "I love it when you yell at me."

William turned to Ryland and Suarez. "You were supposed to be protecting him! Why weren't you doing your goddamned jobs?"

On the other side of them, Victoria was saying the same kind of thing, and there was a whole host of other people there bustling around, the med team efficient and professional, Nate rushing in, a couple of the teenagers who worshipped Gabe trying to push their way toward him.

"Enough!" The Chief Medic's voice finally cut through everything else. Leighton looked sweet, but she could wield real power when it was called for. It made her a good medic. "Everyone out."

There was no fucking way William was leaving.

"William stays," Gabe said, before William could do anything about it.

"This is my infirmary," Leighton snapped.

"William stays," Gabe said again, firmer the second time.

Leighton nodded. "Fine. William stays. Everyone else out."

William crowded in to take Gabe's hand while Leighton's med team pushed everyone else out. "You fucking idiot," he grumbled down at Gabe.

Gabe squeezed his hand. "I love you too." He tugged on William's hand until he bent over enough that Gabe could reach for the back of his head and tug him all the way down to where he could press his lips to William's. "Sorry," he murmured. "I didn't mean to-" He cut himself off and grimaced. "Fuck, that hurts."

"Sorry," Leighton said. She even sounded sorry. "This is going to take a little surgery. We're going to knock you out for this."

Gabe closed his eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

"And I'm gonna have to kick you out," Leighton said to William.

William gripped Gabe's hand tighter. "No."

"Yes," Leighton said, her voice sharp.

Gabe squeezed his hand again, a slow pulse of affection. "Yes," he said, softly. He tugged William into a kiss. "Leighton's good. Let her do her job."

William cupped his hand around Gabe's cheek. "Okay." He brushed his thumb across the line of Gabe's cheekbone. "Okay."

Leighton's team pushed the gurney away from William, and he watched until they went through the doors into her operating room before he turned around and went out to sit in the waiting area.

He dropped into a chair next to Victoria, across from Ryland and Suarez. "They're doing surgery."

"The mission was fine," Victoria told him without waiting to be asked. "It was a trap inside the forest on the way back. We're sending a team out to investigate."

William nodded. "Sorry," he offered. He looked up at Ryland and Suarez so they'd know he meant it for them too.

Victoria squeezed his shoulder. "We all know what he is to you."

William dropped his head to look down at his hands again. Victoria let go of him, and he got the sense she was having a silent conversation with Ryland and Suarez, but he didn't look up to find out.

In objective time, Gabe wasn't really in surgery for that long, but it felt like forever.

"He's going to be fine," Leighton said when she came to tell them it was over. "He'll have to stay off of it for a while, but he should be out of here in a couple of days."

"Can we see him?" Victoria asked while William breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"He's still out," Leighton said, "but one of you can sit with him."

There was a moment where William waited for Victoria to insist on seeing him. But instead she pushed at his shoulder. "Go on. We've got work to do." Then she leaned in and hugged him quickly. "I'll take you off the duty rotation for now."

William resisted the urge to just lean against her. "Thanks." He hauled himself up out of the chair and followed Leighton back to where Gabe lay silent and asleep in a bed.

He tugged a chair as close as he could get it to the bed and took Gabe's hand. Gabe was always so busy that William had barely ever gotten a chance to watch him sleep. He wasn't sure that was a bad thing.

Gabe asleep looked vulnerable and still in a way he never was awake, not even in those rare moments when they were just quiet together and Gabe wasn't the head of Cobra Camp, just Gabe, just the guy William was in love with. He wanted Gabe to wake up, to just be with him, and for a moment, he hated it all, Resistance as much as Association, for not letting him have just that.

He watched Gabe sleep for a long time.

Gabe's face eventually scrunched up and then his eyes opened.

"Hey," William said.

Gabe's eyes slowly focused on him. "Hey," he said, his voice raspy. "Hey, hey, hey."

William smiled helplessly. "You're pretty drugged up."

Gabe grinned back at him. "Love you, William. My William. William, William, bo Billiam," he sang.

William chuckled. "Really drugged up." He pushed Gabe's hair back. "Love you too."

The lecture about not scaring the hell out of him like that could wait until the drugs wore off.

***

The trap turned out to have been set by a trio of teenage girls. William suspected they weren't particularly serious about the Resistance and would have been just as happy to have been causing mayhem on behalf of the Association, but something about their wildness and abandon appealed to Gabe, so Melissa, Allison, and Dani stayed to put an almost permanent frown on Victoria's face.

Gabe was still on restricted duty - which meant he spent most of his day in the command tent and bitched endlessly about being well enough to get back to at least most of the camp duty chores - when Mike, Kevin, and Kevin's brothers came through on a message run.

"Are they your chaperones?" William asked Mike, after he'd shown them to two separate tents.

"Shut up," Mike said. "I think Pete just wanted to get them out of there. Nick and Joe are a fucking handful."

William walked them out toward his explosives training ground, betting on it being empty. "Kevin worth the trouble?"

"Gabe worth the trouble?" Mike asked instead of answering him directly. Point taken.

"He got hurt," William said a ways down the path. "Surgery and everything, and the girls who set the trap are part of the camp now."

"Anyone who hurt Kevin wouldn't live to join up." Mike didn't say it like a threat, just plain, like it was a fact.

"Gabe actually likes them. They're a fucking danger to all of us." William pushed aside the brush and led Mike onto his training ground.

"Shit," Mike said, looking around. "This is pretty fucking amazing."

The clearing was large enough to practice throwing bombs. A rushing creek bordered it on one side.

"Exactly what we never had."

"What are you doing out here?" Mike asked. "Cocktails? Detonators?"

"Anything Victoria can get our hands on. Plus safety training."

Mike laughed. "You got teams green enough for that?"

"I've got Cash Colligan, who thinks he's fucking invincible. I keep telling him he's going to get his whole team killed, but it's not sinking in."

Mike sat down on one of the fallen logs that served as a bench. "So this is what it's like to belong to the camp commander."

William kicked at Mike's feet. "Shut up. It's not like that. He offered me a place here before that."

"But he wanted to. You too."

William shook his head. "Victoria got me this, and she doesn't fuck around." He grinned. "I'm not getting away with this because of Gabe." He swung his pack off his shoulders and dropped it into Mike's lap. "Build me something without blowing us both up. Small enough we can detonate it here."

Mike flashed him the sign for "crazy" but dug through the pack and pulled out parts he slotted together with practiced efficiency.

William watched carefully, calculating blast radius and volatility.

Mike held up the finished product. "Meet with your approval?"

"Depends on the field test."

Mike had used a remote detonator, so he walked it out into the clearing, far enough that they wouldn't be caught in the blast, but not so far it would disturb the creek.

William pulled out two pairs of heavy-duty earmuffs and handed one to Mike. He gave Mike a thumbs up when his ears were covered, and Mike punched in the code on the remote, which was really just showing off; a simple push-button remote would have done just as well.

It was beautiful, practically textbook. William almost wished he'd brought some of his students out to see it.

"How long are you staying?" William took the earmuffs from Mike and bundled both pairs back into his pack.

Mike shrugged. "Depends on your commander." He dropped back onto one of the logs. "Could be a couple of days, or we might leave tomorrow." His eyes narrowed. "You're not trying to get me to help are you?"

"I don't know what they were doing before I got here, but it sure as hell wasn't explosives." William sat next to Mike. "And Cash might actually listen to you."

"He the team lead?"

William huffed out a laugh. "No, one of the Alexes, but they're joined at the hip."

"Fuck," Mike muttered, which meant William had won. "We're still here, I'll talk to him tomorrow."

William knocked his shoulder against Mike's in thanks. They just sat for a couple minutes before Mike spoke again.

"Thinking about making it official with Kevin, if he says yes."

William was so surprised he couldn't even think what to say. He decided asking when the last time Mike had gotten laid wasn't the way to go. "You barely know him," he finally managed.

Mike shrugged and refused to look at him. "Been a couple of months. Besides, when you know, you know, right?" He glanced at William. "You knew. Before you came to get me, you knew."

William leaned hard against Mike's side. It wasn't a conversation he'd had with anyone else. "I knew," he admitted softly. "I guess it's one good thing out of this war."

Mike nudged him. "You think we'd get away with blowing shit up without this war?"

It surprised William into a laugh, and something inside him that he hadn't even known was tight loosened.

***

Neither Mike nor Cash would divulge the contents of their conversation, but whatever it was seemed to work. William breathed a sigh of relief and sent his thanks in his next note to Mike.

Gabe's leg got better, and he and Victoria had a screaming fight with the dual results that William got fucked so hard he could feel it for days and Melissa, Allison, and Dani were sent on to Clandestine Camp. William figured he was the one who actually won that argument.

Winter started to warm into spring.

William was on stable duty, despairing over the sheer volume of mud, when Gabe came running at him yelling his name. William dropped the brush he'd been using, and Gabe picked him up and twirled him around.

"We won!"

"What?" William spluttered.

"We won." Gabe's smile stretched his mouth wide and lit up his face. "I don't think Pete even knows how he did it, but he did. Pete's in the government residence, and the Association is disbanding."

It took a moment for it to sink in, for William to realize it was really happening. "Gabe," he breathed out. Gabe still had him lifted in the air, so William had to lean down to kiss him. Gabe slowly lowered him, never breaking the kiss, until they were level again. William could feel his grin stretching wide to match Gabe's.

Gabe palmed his ass with one hand and used the other to tug William's leg up over his hip. "I can't wait to have you in a bed."

William laughed, joy outweighing the arousal that would have him insisting on Gabe having him right then. "You wouldn't believe the things I can do in a bed."

"I can't believe some of the things you can do in a bedroll." Gabe pressed a sound kiss to William's lips and let go of him, only to take his hand. "Come on. Leave the horses. Day off." Gabe tugged William with him toward the center of camp.

Word had clearly spread, and the camp's center had turned into a party. Gabe pulled William into the middle of it, where they exchanged hugs and high fives with most of the rest of the camp.

Ryland and Suarez had set themselves up on top of one of the tables with a set of speakers, a tech unit William was willing to bet they'd taken from the command tent, and a couple of microphones.

"This," Gabe said, catching William around the waist and holding him close, "is what we've been building." He turned William around to watch the crowd from his perspective. Couples danced to the music Ryland and Suarez kept coming, Cash and the Alexes had a couple of guitars and a tambourine and appeared to be trying to wheedle time with the sound system, and children ran around joining in the general air of delighted chaos. Even Victoria was laughing and dancing with Nate. "Something where victory is a party everyone can be a part of."

William leaned back, trusting Gabe to take his weight and tipping his head to press his cheek against Gabe's. "I love you so much." He could feel Gabe's answering grin against his cheek. "I mean that, you know." He twisted in Gabe's hold and twined his arms around Gabe's neck. "This is amazing. You're amazing." He felt like he would never stop smiling.

Victoria interrupted the moment by pushing at Gabe's arm. "Take it to your tent, or break it up and get up there to make a speech."

Gabe squeezed William tight before letting go. He pressed a gentle kiss to William's lips, and smacked a louder one to Victoria's cheek. "I'm going."

Victoria wrapped an arm around William's back, and he wrapped an answering arm around her shoulders. They stood together to watch Gabe make his way through the crowd to Ryland and Suarez's makeshift stage.

He hopped up on the table with them, and the three of them talked for a moment before the music stopped.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Ryland proclaimed, "Gabriel Saporta."

There was a roar from the assembled members of their camp, and if William clutched Victoria a little tighter, she didn't seem to mind.

Gabe was still laughing when he brought the mic up. "You've all been here with me working on getting rid of the Association," he said when both he and the crowd had quieted, "and now we've done that." He had to stop for the crowd to cheer. "But this is just the beginning. Now it's time to take what we've learned here, how to work together, how to live, how to party, and bring it to the rest of the world." There was another cheer. "It took us time to get here, and it'll take more time to remake the world in our image." He looked out at the crowd, and William was sure every one of them would swear he looked straight at them. "I don't even know how that's going to work yet, so just be cool about it, and we'll let you know when we know." He grinned, bright and cheerful. "And now I'm going to hand this back over to Ryland and Suarez. Tomorrow we'll start rebuilding the world, but tonight we're partying. Fangs up!" Gabe threw up the fangs, and the rest of the camp answered with the fangs and a roar of sound.

Ryland and Suarez started the music up again. Gabe handed the mic back and jumped down and waded into the crowd.

William turned back to Victoria. "He's really good at that."

"He's Gabe Saporta." Victoria smiled and hugged William close. William had never seen her so happy, or so relaxed.

Leighton came by to grin at William and drag Victoria into the crowd, and William found himself alone at the edge of it. He'd made enough of a home at Cobra Camp that he wasn't alone for long, but he didn't see Gabe for a while. The only chore someone had managed to keep going for the day was dinner, but even then William didn't get to spend time with Gabe. He was pretty sure Gabe didn't even get to sit down to eat; every time he caught sight of Gabe, he was standing and talking to someone, although he at least had a plate in his hands.

It was only later, when William was trying to teach the Alexes a song they didn't know, that Gabe found him. William handed the guitar to one of the Alexes and took the hand Gabe held out to him.

Gabe tugged him close. "This is going to go on all night. No one'll mind if we sneak away."

William grinned and pressed his lips to Gabe's cheek. "What'd you have in mind?"

"A little private party." Gabe started walking as he said it, and they ended up back in their own tent.

"I like the way you think."

"Then you're really gonna like this." Gabe slid to his knees, and the rush of arousal William had pushed away earlier came back full force.

William reached down to run his fingers through Gabe's hair and pet Gabe's cheeks while Gabe tugged his pants down far enough to pull out his cock. Gabe didn't bother with preliminaries, just took William in deep and sucked. It was amazing. It was everything - winning and Gabe and wet suction around his cock - and it wasn't long before he came down Gabe's throat and Gabe pulled back to lick him clean.

"I've been wanting to do that all day," Gabe said, still on his knees and sounding rough from William's thrusts.

"You can do that any time you want," William promised. He lowered himself down onto their bedroll with his head propped up on a pillow. "Come here. I'll do you."

Gabe took his clothes off first, which was a joy to watch, every inch of his skin being bared just for William. "Can I just come on you?" he asked after kneeling over William.

William smiled lazily up at him. "You can do whatever you want." He sat up enough to pull his shirt off and then settled back down. "You want me to do anything?" He ran his hands up Gabe's thighs and onto his ass.

"That's good," Gabe gasped out, so William kept his hands there and watched the rhythmic slide of Gabe's hand over his cock.

"Baby," William murmured, "you look so good like that."

" _William_."

"I would've let you do this before. You should've known that. I love it when you come in my mouth, my ass, all over my hand."

Gabe tightened above him, and William closed his eyes and kept talking until the sticky spurts striping his face stopped. He opened his eyes to find Gabe staring down on him in a kind of lustful daze.

"We're doing that again." Gabe slid down William's body until they were lying together.

"Yeah." William wriggled his pants all the way off. "And think of all the things we haven't done yet."

"Oh, I'm thinking of them." Gabe leaned in and licked over the come covering William's face. "I'm making a list," he said somewhere in the vicinity of William's chin.

William laughed and ran his fingers across Gabe's back in abstract patterns. Gabe's tongue on his skin felt amazingly good. Next time, Gabe was going first so William could really enjoy it.

There was only so much licking Gabe could do before it was all gone, and then he stretched out half on top of William.

"Pete wants Vicky-T and me in the city. We're probably leaving tomorrow or the day after."

William didn't have any conscious control over the way he held on tighter and dug his fingers into Gabe's back.

"Will you come with me?"

" _Yes,_ " William said on an exhale of the breath he'd been holding. "Anywhere."

***

Life in the government residence, where Pete had given Gabe and William a suite, was disappointingly similar to life in Cobra Camp: Gabe was up early, came to bed late, and only sometimes made it to meals.

Victoria did her best to rotate William into the things that needed doing, but most of the day-to-day stuff was already being done by people who'd been in the city and were happy enough to switch their employers from the Association to the Resistance's forming government. And Mike was right about peacetime not needing much in the way of explosives expertise.

William spent a lot of time wandering around reacquainting himself with the city.

He met Mike for lunch and reached out across the table to tap the ring on Mike's finger. "Liking the official life?"

Mike grinned. That much happiness was a look he'd never really seen on Mike's face. "Love it." Mike kicked him under the table. "And not just because I'm getting laid regularly."

"I wasn't going to say it," William protested. Mike just looked at him, and he relented. "Okay, maybe I was." He looked away from Mike. "At least someone is."

"Gabe not taking care of you now that you're safe in the city?"

William frowned. "How could he when he's never around?"

"Wasn't he busy when you were in the camp too?"

"Yeah, but at least then I had something to do." William heaved out a sigh and forced himself to smile. "Tell me what the official life is like. Aside from the sex."

Mike stared at him for a moment, but he let it go and instead told William about finding a place with Kevin, and the negotiation it took to move farther than a block away from his family.

When they said goodbye, Mike caught William up in a hug and said, "Things'll calm down. You'll see."

William didn't quite believe him - wasn't the end of the Association supposed to be when things calmed down? - but he appreciated the sentiment. He could've caught transportation back, but he walked instead. His wandering path took him past three different schools, and he remembered Gabe characterizing child care duty as getting away with playing hooky.

William had been to the almost overstaffed child care center for government employees, but not the separate facility that had been an orphanage under the Association and was slowly being transformed to a friendlier kind of halfway house for displaced children.

When he found the place, tucked away in the middle of a quiet part of the sprawling landscaping that made the government residence a surprising refuge of quiet in the middle of the city, he pushed open the door to be met with the dual sounds of a baby crying and a woman's pleading voice. There was also a chime that sounded when he walked through the doorway.

The pleading voice grew louder, until the woman came into sight, only she was more like a teenager, and she was holding the crying baby and looking completely flustered. "Maria had to go out, but she'll be back in a minute to help you," she said to William, and then to the baby, "Come on, honey. It's okay."

William held out his arms and tried to look unthreatening. "Want me to try?"

The girl half sneered at him the way teenagers did, but she handed over the baby. "Her name's Alexa." As an afterthought, she added, "I'm Demi."

"Nice to meet you, Demi. I'm William." William cradled Alexa against his chest and started singing to her, just nonsense syllables and a melody that seemed to fit. She quieted down to a sleepy murmur, and William looked up to find an awed look on Demi's face.

"How did you do that? No, wait, I don't care, just say you'll stay until she goes to sleep. Please?"

William looked down at the baby in his arms and realized he'd been missing time spent on child care duty, and time spent with Travis, Maja, and their girls, who hadn't moved back to the city yet. "Yeah, I'll stay."

"Awesome." Demi smiled in relief, and it lit up her whole face and made her look even younger. "Come on, you can sit down." She led William into what was obviously a common room, with toys on the floor, low bookshelves along one wall, and a rocking chair.

William settled into the soft cushions of the rocking chair and kept singing to Alexa until her eyes closed. "I thought there'd be more people here," he said, softly so as not to disturb Alexa.

Demi shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. "Just us, and Maria. She runs this place. Everyone else who was here before has been adopted and I guess there aren't that many kids around who need places to stay right now." She'd sat in one of the plush chairs, and she pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees. "I'm too old and Alexa won't quiet down for anyone."

William wasn't sure if he should push for her story or let her be, but he was saved from deciding by the entrance chime sounding. A woman with dark, curly hair and a smile on her face came around the corner.

"This is Maria," Demi said. "Maria, William got Alexa to go to sleep."

Maria looked as surprised as Demi had been. "Good for you," she said. "I think we met when you first got here. You're with Gabe, right?"

"Right."

Maria nodded. "Were you looking for me?"

"No." William looked down at Alexa. "No, I just had some time, and I haven't been here before, so." He shrugged.

"And then he got Alexa to go to sleep," Demi said again. "You have no idea," she said to William. "She never calms down."

William ran the back of one finger across Alexa's baby-soft cheek.

"Well, you're welcome to spend time with us whenever you want," Maria said, and when William looked up she was watching him soft and understanding. He looked back at Alexa, and Maria said to Demi, "You have homework to do."

Alexa woke up later, and William realized he'd been sitting there watching her sleep for hours. He talked to her softly while she woke up, and then sat down with her in the play area. Maria came to fetch her when it was time for her to eat, and William went back to the central part of the residence.

He went back the next day.

He started helping Demi with her homework, and discovered that she had a good voice, if untrained. She could play piano, too, and William brought her a guitar he could teach her to play, or use to keep her company while she played piano.

He took over the job of getting Alexa to go down for her nap, and spent a lot of hours sitting on the piano bench next to Demi with Alexa in his arms.

He left a message on Victoria's comm to let her know he was available if she had things that needed doing, but that he was spending time helping out Maria. While he did spend some of his time there with the other kids in and out of the place, he spent most of it with Demi and Alexa.

And he wrote a song, about lost little girls left behind by the world.

***

Just after five on a Saturday a few weeks later the door to their quarters opened and Gabe came straight through to where William was reading and kissed him. "Ashlee threw us all out. She said she and Bronx wanted Pete back." Gabe pushed his hands into William's hair and brought their foreheads together. "I'm all yours until Monday morning."

William could feel the smile spreading across his face as he closed his book and put it aside. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Gabe grinned against his lips and kissed him again. "Come on. I remember promising you unhurried good times in our bed."

William pulled back. "I'm not that easy. We're doing this right."

"You, me, and a bed," Gabe argued. "That's right."

William couldn't resist laughing at him. "No. You're taking me to dinner, and then maybe dancing. Have you even been to Ryland and Suarez's new restaurant?"

Gabe smiled at him with what looked to be a mixture of amusement and pride, shook his head, and let William tug him out into the city.

Over dinner, Gabe told William about what they'd been doing to reorganize the government, and William filled him in on what he'd heard and seen around the city. Ryland and Suarez abandoned their responsibilities to their restaurant to sit with them for a while.

After dinner, Gabe took William to a club he knew from before his time in the forest that was still in business, and they danced and kissed until they were sweaty and breathless, and then they held hands through the streets as they walked home.

William expected the first time they really had time to enjoy themselves in their bed to be frantic and maybe a little rough like some of their best times, but instead it was slow and sweet. It was Gabe laying him out and touching and kissing him like he was trying to memorize William's skin with his hands and lips. It was Gabe telling him he was beautiful, and William reaching out for him because he couldn't stand to not be touching Gabe. It was just him and Gabe and nothing else.

And he was gone, so gone for Gabe. He'd known it before, but there was knowing and then there was feeling it right down to his bones.

And afterwards it was still just them, no rush to go to sleep to get up tomorrow, no something they had to go attend to. Just the two of them trading kisses until they couldn't stay awake any longer.

***

William woke up on Saturday to find Gabe watching him. "What?"

Gabe smiled and brushed William's hair back. "Nothing. I'm just not used to sleeping in."

"Okay." William stretched and settled again.

Gabe kept stroking his hair. "I heard you've been spending a lot of time in the old orphanage."

It wasn't a topic they'd covered at dinner the night before.

"Were you going to tell me about it?" Gabe didn't seem particularly concerned, just mildly curious.

All of the frustration of being left alone and not having anything to do and missing Gabe rushed through William like fire through his veins. "When would I?" he ground out. "You're never here!" He yanked himself away from Gabe.

Gabe scowled at him. "I've been working. Doing that thing we're here to do, you know, rebuilding the world."

William hurled himself out of their bed and looked down at Gabe. "Rebuilding it for what? Remember what you used to say about it? That Cobra Camp was different because it wasn't just about the fight, it was about the world after and the people and the families." His voice rose until he was shouting. "I'm your family! You're supposed to be with me now! But you're not, and you know it doesn't matter because I love you so much I won't leave you anyway!" William breathed in pants, like he'd been running, and he and Gabe stared at each other. "I wouldn't," he said softly. "Not for anything."

With Gabe still staring at him, William turned and walked into the bathroom. He didn't lock the door, and he wasn't surprised when Gabe joined him in the shower. Gabe pressed all along his back, and William could feel Gabe's lips against his shoulder.

"William, next time," Gabe sighed against his skin, "tell me. Just tell me. Wake me up in the middle of the night or tie me to the bed if that's what you have to do to make me listen, but tell me." Gabe stroked his hands down William's chest to settle across his stomach. "I love you, you are my family, and I don't want to ever leave you alone." Gabe tucked his head in against the curve of William's neck. "Do you remember that day in the armory, when the Association had taken out that small camp?" Gabe didn't wait for William's nod before continuing. "You reminded me what we were fighting for." Gabe's lips pressed against William's shoulder. "You're the best thing The Cobra ever brought me. I'm sorry I forgot that."

William turned into Gabe's embrace. "You need to come home," he said, his voice still rough. "You need to make everyone else go home sometimes too." He tipped his forehead onto Gabe's shoulder. "I want you to come with me and meet the kids at the old orphanage."

"Yes," Gabe said. "Yes, to all of it. I promise." He tugged William's head up and kissed him.

"Okay," William said, "okay," and he softened into Gabe's touch.

***

After a shower that included them nearly slipping and laughing about it and not letting it get in the way of the makeup sex, and after a late-morning brunch Gabe made for them, William took Gabe's hand and they walked across the grounds to the old orphanage.

Alexa's fussing met them when they came through the door. Demi came out on the heels of the chime with Alexa in her arms and a look of relief on her face.

"She's been fussy since last night." Demi handed Alexa over to William, and he, in turn, handed her to Gabe.

"This is Alexa," he said as he did it. "Alexa, sweetheart, be good for Gabe. And this is Demi. Demi, this is Gabe."

Demi looked from William to Alexa to Gabe. "Nice to meet you."

"It's very nice to meet you," Gabe said over Alexa's continued fussing, and then he walked away from them, bouncing Alexa a little and then talking to her softly.

"Is this going to work?" Demi asked softly as she came to lean against William's side.

William wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her. "I hope so. He's good with kids, and I want her to like him."

Demi turned into his hug enough to put both her arms around him. "You love him, so she probably will."

William smiled softly down at her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Demi looked up at him. "I think I figured out that song."

William glanced over at Gabe and a quieting Alexa. "Yeah, okay. Show me." He and Demi sat at the piano where she played through the song a couple of times. After a while Gabe, with a sleeping Alexa in his arms, came in and squeezed onto the bench next to William.

"What do you think?" Demi asked Gabe.

"It's good," Gabe said. "You wrote it?"

"Yes." Demi's hands hovered over the keys like she wasn't sure what to do with them.

Gabe pressed a kiss to William's shoulder. "You certainly have a talent for finding musicians."

Demi's hands settled softly onto the keys. "It's because he is one." She played a few notes William recognized as the chorus to the song he'd written.

***

"Tell me about them," Gabe said later, on the way back to their quarters.

William sighed. "Demi's dad left them a long time ago, I guess, and her mom worked for the Association. She died a couple of years ago, and Demi ended up in the orphanage. She's older than what people were looking for, and then there's the music, which no one was willing to support. Alexa's parents were Resistance, killed by the Association. She doesn't quiet down for very many people, so no one wanted her either."

"Okay," Gabe said after a minute or two. "There are a lot of family quarters empty. If you'll work on packing us up, we should be able to move next weekend, and we're already set up to fast track adoptions from the old orphanage."

William barely dared to breathe. "Alexa and Demi," he didn't quite ask.

"Alexa and Demi," Gabe said. He squeezed William's hand. "They're your family now, and that makes them mine too." After a moment, he twisted their arms together to draw them closer to each other. "I can see we're going to spend our lives surrounded by Alexes." He didn't sound unhappy about it, and when William looked over at him, his lips were turned up in a smile William had to taste.

***

On Monday William sat down with Demi. "Gabe and I want you and Alexa to come live with us." It seemed like a good idea to just say it flat out.

Demi froze and looked at him with impossibly wide eyes. "You mean it?" she asked, sounding even younger than she was.

William reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Yes. If you say yes, we'll take care of all the adoption paperwork. Gabe thinks we can move this weekend." He grinned. "And when Gabe wants something, he gets it done."

Demi flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around him. "Yes. Yes, please, thank you."

William held onto her as tightly as she was holding him. "I love you."

Demi's voice shook as she said, "Love you too," into his sweater.

***

On Tuesday, Gabe started coming home just after five. On Wednesday, he came home with their new quarters assignment and the news that if they picked colors the next day, they could be repainted before they moved on Saturday. On Thursday, William found a music store and bought a piano to be delivered the following week. On Friday, they signed the adoption papers and found temporary space for Demi and Alexa to spend the night in their mostly packed up quarters. On Saturday, they moved into a set of family quarters that had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room big enough for both the piano and an entertainment unit, and a kitchen.

***

On a rainy afternoon a few months later, Demi sat at the piano working out a song while Alexa sat on the floor playing with the stuffed elephant Kevin and Mike had given her. William had a book open on his lap, but he wasn't really reading it. Instead he alternated his focus between the rain rolling down the window, Demi's occasional bursts of music, and Alexa's not-quite-words.

Gabe came in just after five, and William moved enough to let Gabe slide in behind him on the couch.

"Hey," Gabe murmured. He put his arms around William and kissed his temple.

William smiled, closed his book, and tucked one hand around Gabe's arm. "Hey." He looked at the girls, at Gabe's arms around him, at the life he'd never known he wanted, and tipped his head back to look at Gabe. "This is what we were fighting for."

Gabe said, "Yes," and kissed him deeply enough that Demi played a crashing collection of notes to remind them they weren't alone.

**Author's Note:**

> [Writing Without a Plot, Sex Scenes, Gender Politics, and More ("Fighting For" Commentary Track)](http://rsadelle.livejournal.com/227223.html)


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